justincharacter said: "What is so "offensive" about it? Think. Both of these women have wonderful voices that will accompain the score very well. They both seem to have the acting chops or the desire to act. In fact, Adele has been saying ever since she stepped back on the music scene that she'd like to act. Xavier Dolan, who directed the music video for "Hello", is currently working on a new project for the silver screen. Adele has said HERSELF that she'd love to be in it. I don't know, maybe it's just me but I can see these two women embodying Glinda and Elphaba perfectly. We sit here and complain about Hollywood actors with limited vocals being considered for these roles but write it off when actual singers with star power and experience are mentioned. "
I wouldn't call it "offensive," but I have to point out there is a WORLD of difference between performers who "have the acting chops" and performers who "have the desire to act." A musical is not a concert where the biggest belters win, but rather a specific combination of performance elements and a very specific performance style (which is why musical theater is not truly comparable to, say, opera). Pop stars, even with excellent voices, tend to not do well in musicals because they are not trained to sing and act. While I'm sure maybe pop divas could (and have) covered Wicked songs beautifully, performing as the characters, rather than as themselves "evoking" the characters, is a much taller order.
That's really the unavoidable problem with Hollywood adaptations of musicals. They either cast big-name actors who can't quite sing, big-name singers who can't quite act, or theater stars who can do both but won't bring in the box office. Wicked is big enough source material they might be able to get away with lesser-knows, but so was Les Mis and we all know how some of that casting worked out.
